Using heavy cloth as a basement ceiling can actually create a minor sound barrier between the living areas above and below the ceiling. Footsteps from above, excited cheers from below as someone watches a game or plays video games - this sort of thing can be disruptive to people in both areas. Muffling these sounds even slightly results in a better enjoyment of the areas.

A dropped or suspended ceiling is another option for your basement. These ceilings have a grid work of metal bars in the shape of an upside-down T, these are suspended on wires from the overhead joists. A dropped ceiling is great because there is no need for you to move wires, pipes or ducts and the joists don't have to be straight for the finished ceiling to look flat. This type of basement ceiling finishing will give you easy access to heating, cooling and electrical systems. Adding some lighting fixtures can be done with ease as well. In addition to that, a dropped ceiling shields unwanted noise from above. However, one of the biggest disadvantages of a dropped or suspended ceiling is that it eats up too much head space so if you already have a very low basement ceiling then you might want to look into this first.

Many of the more popular basement ceiling ideas incorporate the use of a drop ceiling, which comes in many different styles and is easy to install - in fact, it's so simple that you might just as well take on the task of installing it as a DIY project. You might also take a look at suspended ceilings, which are similarly simple to install and can offer an even greater degree of acoustic insulation. Suspended ceilings are made up of tiles that attach to a metal grid, a 3-dimensional frame that's light and easy to handle.